Will Liverman and DJ King Rico, The Factotum (2022)

So here is this, which I saw.  The video used to be available online, but I don't think it is now.  Maybe I'll upload it if you ask nicely.  At any rate.

Right, so the title is clearly in reference to Rossini.  Stories about the opera all say it.  But aside from the fact that some of the characters are, uh, barbers, the resemblance to Barbiere seems non-existent.   Why would you claim that when it's not true?  What purpose does this weirdly arcane lie serve?  Bah! 

So look: all I need to say about the music--a great mix of opera, jazz, gospel, soul, r&b, and I don't know what all--is that it fucking owns throughout.  Purely on the basis of the music, no one should pass this up.

The plot, however, is something of a mixed bag.  It takes place in a Chicago barbershop, co-owned by two brothers, Mike and Garby.  Mike is all serious and straight-laced about the business, while Garby is a hustler, selling bootleg merchandise and, though the opera never mentions it, almost certainly drugs, given that he seems to be loaded.  So, obviously, the two of them clash.  There's also a thing concerning Mike and Garby's nieces Cece (their sister her mother having died young).  Cece doesn't speak since her mother's death, but if this is supposed to be because of trauma, the piece really doesn't sell it: she's always smiling and sashaying around the stage, and she clearly hears and understands people, sometimes even responding with gestures.  What IS this?  And also, she's going away to college the next day, we are told many times, and, I mean, okay, but shouldn't her current muteness be, I don't know, part of the conversation at least?  This is weird.  

But ANYWAY, the other plot thing here is the relationship between Garby and his girlfriend Rose.  This dude CJ appears, recently back from a military tour; he and Rose had apparently had some sort of thing in the past, and he's still in love with her, even though he knows she and Garby are serious.  But Garby ALSO seems to be behaving irresponsibly and treating her poorly, so maybe...?  Well, you'll find out!

The libretto is mostly good on a textual level, but it has it DOES have it's clunky moments, as well as larger structural issues.  As an example of the former, in the first song, a chorus exhorts you to go to the barber shop, which is all well and good, except then the last lines, repeated many times, is "but don't forget to pay," and it's just such a bizarre emphasis.  It would only work if "paying" as a concept played a role in the opera--like, the barber shop SEEMS all great and stuff, but then there's the dark side: you must pay.  But no, nothing like that.  Instead, you just get the impression that it's there to fill space, and it's sort of embarrassing.  Oh well.

As for the latter, the story just has a REALLY jarring transition between the tones of the first and second acts.  The first is this super-fun, colorful, hyper-real sort of thing, and then in the second, with no warning, bam, police brutality.  Obviously, I think this is a valid subject for an African American opera (or any opera), but I really think there needs to be some indication that that's the direction you're going in.  Otherwise...gads.

Anyway, what happens is, Cece is beaten and detained, and, naturally, everyone is righteously enraged over this.  But, I mean, ARGH, I don't think this was the best direction to take the piece in, but if you're GOING to, then DO it.  But this...doesn't, because after a little while Cece reappears, seemingly none the worse for wear, and also, now she can talk, or at least sing.  Okay.  That ended anti-climactically.  Seriously, the whole racism angle just kind of fizzles out (though all due credit to Nissi Shalome, who is radiant in the duel singing/dancing role).  What are you even trying to say?

I will say, though, that I was both surprised and edified by the conclusion of the love triangle plotline: we're clearly set up to want CJ to get Rose, but in my book, it's pretty darned unsatisfying if he just gets her because her current boyfriend is bad.  That has sorta incel-y vibes.  Doesn't happen, though; it turns out Garby isn't actually a bad guy, and he and Rose reaffirm their love, and, well, CJ is wistful but accepting.  Much better than I'd expected!

So, yup.  There we are.  As I said, killer music, and I actually did find the conclusion satisfying, in spite of some bumpiness in getting there.  Highly recommended.

Anthony Davis, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (1986)

I'd been wanting to see this for a long time, though that may have been mainly because I wanted an "X" opera for my list. Actually, recently I accomplished that one with Cavalli's Xerse, and yes, unlike Handel's version, this one was Latinized with an X. Why didn't I write about it? It's actually really good, as you'd expect from Cavalli; it uses the same libretto that Handel later did with revisions. Of course I don't have the Handel libretto memorized or anything, but you may be interested to know that "Ombra mai fu" actually includes a lot of lyrics that Handel eliminated. I suppose I can see the "more is less" argument, but it's still really interesting to hear them.

Anyway, as for this particular X opera, which was a Met Live in HD broadcast back in the fall. The first thing I do have to note is that that subtitle is a big ol' fail. So clunky. Why not just a minimalistic "X?" I suppose it wouldn't be considered descriptive enough; not good for marketing. But even if you HAD to use a subtitle, I feel like you could come up with something better than that. Probably.

Well, it's sort of what you'd expect. It covers X's life in a slightly impressionistic way, from his dissipated younger life, doing jail time, meeting Elijah Muhammed and joining the Nation of Islam, preaching to the people, falling out with Muhammed, doing the Haj and changing his name to El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, and of course being assassinated. It's really good, I have to say. The music is highly varied, drawing on classical and jazz and...you know, an AI could write this sentence. But trust me, it's good. I enjoyed the first act the most; it somehow seemed to lost a little momentum after that.

Seriously, this is super-good. People complain about affirmative action, but to that I say: yes, the Met is clearly looking to diversify, and that's why they did this and Fire Shut Up in My Bones and Champion. So...affirmative action resulted in productions of three great operas. Tell me how this is a problem (okay, calling Champion "great" would be overstating it, but you know). This is nice and colorful, and I think I might have independently hit on the word "Afrofuturism" to describe the production even if the Met on Demand description didn't use it, BUT WE'LL NEVER KNOW NOW, WILL WE? Some real set-pieces, and a great cast, particularly Will Liverman in the title role and Victor Ryan Robertson in a dual role as a pimp called "Street" and Elijah Muhammed (I assume this is in the libretto, but even if not, it's appropriate, as the two characters represent two opposing forces vying for X's soul). If you look up Muhummed, you'll see that he DOES look uncannily similar to Robertson. Also, I want to highlight a small role that nonetheless blew me away, and that's Raehann Bryce-Davis as X's sister Ella. She only gets one significant scene, but man, what a huge, awesome voice. I initially thought she was a contralto; actually a mezzo, but definitely a low one. I'd love to see her in classical repertoire.

You'd think an opera about Malcolm X would be subversive, but I don't know, can something be subversive while accruing the cultural cachet of being performed at the Met? We're talking some postmodern simulacra shit here. I suppose the closest an opera may come is The Death of Klinghoffer, inasmuch as the Live in HD transmission was canceled due to protests by idiots, but they still performed it, so I dunno. Hey Met, how 'bout doing a live in HD of that NOW, in the current political context? That, even I have to admit, would be genuinely subversive.